IN THIS ISSUE:

FBH Rekap – It’s one week to go in the third quarter… Do you know where your picks are?
Ending The Ongoing Thanksgiving Game Debate – You know I’m right.
The New York Football Rivalry? – Not exactly the “Subway Series.”
NFL Happenings – Thrills in stills.
Scattershooting with Kenny D. - Witness to a Texas tradition.
Extra Points – The fastest two minutes in footballhappenings.

FBH Rekap
(by Ralfk)

  Special K. If you want to be a winner in this league, you've either got to eat Special K, or have your name end with the letter "K". It's that simple. Better yet, have both your first and last name end with "K". That seems to bring about the best results. Sitting in an all too familiar perch atop the leaderboard is Dick "King K" Vanek, followed close behind by Joe "Konn Smythe" Nieuwendyk in sekond place and Pete "I'd like to buy a consonant" Blasevick following close behind in fourth. Sitting in the third spot, well... Steve, have you considered "Stevek Rublek"? I think it flows pretty well. Along with Kelly Howell (6th), Ken Davis (T10th), and Pete Knapp (T10th), the Top 10 reeks with "K"s.

 Although, "K"-ness doesn't guarantee entry into the FBH elite. The rest of the Vanek Klan are proof of that. Throw in a Kardel and a Kessler for further proof. But if Kim ever divorces Roy and goes back to the maiden name, Look Out!! She'll win it all. [Come to think of it Kim, were you ever in this pool as Kim Vanek? Might be a good pseudonym for you.]

 Around the divisions, with one week left in the 3rd quarter, James "T. Kirk" Howell sits atop the Jackie Division and leads the league in wins this quarter with 28. Stevek Rublek has a commanding(?) 3 game lead over Lord Buntink and Davik Barisak in the Mookie. And the best Little Boy so far is Mikey "Hey I got a K in my name and so does Ardis Kelley so why didn't you mention us earlier?" Joyce.

 Good luck in the home stretch!

Ending The Ongoing Thanksgiving Game Debate

 For years, KC Chiefs owner and Dallas native Lamar Hunt has been lobbying for the NFL to rotate the Thanksgiving Day games to cities other than Detroit and Dallas.  Obviously the Lions, the Cowboys, and their fans are resistant to that idea. Sunday, Mr. Hunt and William Ford Clay, Jr., Vice Chairman of the Lions, shared their opposing viewpoints on this subject in the Dallas Morning News.

 Mr. Hunt felt that games should be rotated for the sake of fairness.  He feels that being the home team on a continuing basis gives the team advantages including inconvenient scheduling and travel for visitors, experience of playing in the game every year, longer preparation for the next game at a crucial time of the season, and extra media attention and exposure which translates to increased merchandising.  Mr. Hunt assures us that sanctioning this game was not cleared by the other owners.

 Mr. Clay feels that removing one of the great NFL traditions would be unfair as Detroit started the idea 65 years ago, before a large number of today’s soon-to-be 32 teams existed.  He also disputes the idea that hosting the game every year gives his team an advantage citing the fact that the Lions have won 55.7% of all of their home games, but only 50.8% on Thanksgiving Day.  He went on to state that Detroit’s winning percentage is 42.4% the following week compared to 47% in all games.

  I do not know how the corresponding stats for the Cowboys would look.  I did hear that when the Cowboys agreed to begin hosting game two of what is now an annual TV-fest, it was nearly by default as no other team wanted it.  Legend has it that when Tex Schramm booked the game, former Commissioner Pete Rozelle negotiated that if the Cowboys took the game, they could have it every year.  The agreement certainly didn’t seem to matter to anyone at the time.

 Being a traditionalist and a Cowboy fan, I believe the Detroit and Dallas games should be left alone if they wish it so.  The ownership of those teams made an investment, started a tradition, and it paid off in popularity.  That being said, I don’t see any reason why other teams should be denied the opportunity to host a Thanksgiving Day game.  So here’s the solution:  Add another, rotating game on Thanksgiving night.

  The NFL has enjoyed its share of success at night.  Thursday night/holiday games are no stranger to anyone.  There are certainly enough games to go around.  It’s a natural.  Just think of all the giving of thanks by football fans  that will be happening when they realize they don’t have to watch “Home Alone” again.

The New York Football Rivalry?

  They play every year in the pre-season, but have only squared off “for real” eight times starting in 1970 when Weeb Eubank matched wits with Alex Webster.  It may be news that Bill Parcells is facing the team he made his name with for the first time as the Grand Jet Poobah.  But did you realize Mr. Bill is the third Jet Head Coach with ties to the Giants, following (gulp) Joe Walton and Rich Kotite?  Jumbo Elliot is the only currently active player who has been a member of both teams, and 35 other former players have suited up for both sides including Joe Fields, Dave Jennings, Pepper Johnson, Roscoe Word and (believe it) Don Maynard.  The Giantboys had him in 1958 before he spent 12 hall-of-fame years with the Jetties.

 While there has been some commonality, the obvious lack of regular season competition has kept the rivalry-fueled emotions to a minimum.  But I think the main reason Jetfans and Giantfans haven’t been meaner to each other is, let’s face it, we both have enough problems already.  Especially this season, where both teams have performed well below pre-season expectations. 

 This week will only be the second meeting since the most remembered game in the series, the final game of the 1988 season in which the Jets beat the Giants to keep them out of the playoffs.  For a fond and all-too-personal recollection…Heeeeeeeere’s Ralphie!...

  The '88 Jet/Giant Classic was a Jets home game, so us Jet season ticket holders got to attend. And much like all the other Jets season ticket holders, we brought our Giantfan friends with us. We had six tickets, three of us rooting for the Jets, three of us rooting for the Giants, including our own Ron "GiantBoy" Hade (pictured here wearing Jets gear). The Jets season was over essentially, but the Giants still had play-off hopes. To get there, they could even LOSE to the Jets, but if Philadelphia and the Rams won their games, a Giants loss would knock them out. Thus the Shupp Brothers (Steve included) came up with a new chant... "Jets! Eagles! Rams!, Jets! Eagles!, Rams!" Throughout the game, whenever they announced the scores of Philly's game and the Rams game, we started in with the chant. "Jets! Eagles! Rams!"

 Bob and I also had another surprise planned. If they Jets were to take a lead, we would leave our seats, go off somewhere, and paint our faces with some green Halloween make-up that was about 10 years old. We feared the permanence of it, so we just drew "J"s on each other's cheeks and what resembled the Jet logo on our foreheads. While I was doing Bob's face, a young female happened by and said, "Can I have a J?" So I painted a "J" on her cheek too. We made our triumphant return to our seats, much to the delight of the other members of our party. Brother Steve joined our face painting and as Al Toon caught the game-winning TD in the corner of the endzone in front of us as time expired, the Eagles and Rams did their part as well, and the Giantfans went home quite saddened.

NFL Happenings

This Just In: Sea Scum Suck! (Say that 6 times, fast)

Dave Brown still sucks at the Meadowlands. Unfortunately for Giant fans, so does Kerry Collins.

Chrebet's game-tying TD almost catch pretty well sums up the Jets in 1999.

Over Dramatica

And what the hell is Merton Hanks doing??

/ Kordell / Tomczak / Steelers Suck /

NFL Presents... Full Frontal Hugging

This taken from this week's Boston Globe:  "The Pete Carroll Patriots are in the midst of their third annual Tuna Meltdown. Every year since Parcells left, he has beaten the Patriots in midseason and each Tuna loss triggered a major New England swoon. In 1997 and '98, the Patriots went 1-3 after losing to the Jets. This year they are 0-2 since the Jets beat them. This makes them an aggregate 2-8 in midseason stretches that start against the Tuna.  ''Teams play us with a lot of cover two [a cornerback bumps him at the line, backed up by a safety],'' said Terry Glenn. ''It seems like Bill originated it.''  Beleaguered quarterback Drew Bledsoe (sacked six times, his team 8 for 37 in third-down efficiency over the last three weeks) admitted, ''The Dolphins and Bills took a couple of things from what the Jets did.''

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Tommy Smothers:

 Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving - this week's scattershot is a departure to college football from the pro's.  My holiday was spent with my immediate family in Dallas, then with a visit to College Station, Texas to see the Aggie women's volleyball team play Iowa State.  While that was the main focus of the trip (my sister-in-law is the head coach of the Aggies) a sidelight was that she got us tickets to see the Texas/Texas A&M football game.  Having gone to SMU I wasn't particularly enamored with seeing either team play, but because of the bonfire tragedy and the traditional rivalry I thought this might be something worth witnessing.  So I dragged my butt out of bed at 5:00 am to drive down there for a ludicrous 10:00 am kickoff.  I got much more than I bargained for.  I haven't been to too many major college football games since my Ponies were given the death penalty, so the following events left a strong impression on me:

* 86,000 fans, the largest crowd ever to witness a football game of any variety in Texas, and also the largest Big 12 crowd in history. 

Phil Simms' son Chris, a true freshman, finding out right before kickoff that he was starting at QB for Texas, then going out in the most adverse conditions and staking the T'sippers to a 16-6 lead. 

* Mucho guts from the Aggie defense which kept them in the game and eventually won it for them. 

* Class and compassion from both sides, the Longhorn flag corp interspersing A&M flags with Texas flags, doffing their hats, and playing 'Amazing Grace' at halftime.  Fans who normally hate each other's guts were shaking hands and complimenting each other on a tough close game. 

* Dat Nguyen, All America linebacker from A&M last year, now a Cowboy rookie, jumping off the sideline in street clothes to fire up the Aggie kickoff team after the go-ahead touchdown had been scored. 

* 3 decks of Aggies swaying back and forth singing 'Saw Varsity's horns off' (quite a spectacle). 

* Having to stand the entire game, an Aggie tradition I'd just as soon do without.

* Getting to kiss my date after each A&M touchdown, a pretty cool tradition that was a little less exciting because it was my wife and not a first date (Sorry, Lee).

 This game was all that is right with college football.  Of course I would be remiss in not mentioning that the Ramada Inn where UT stayed somehow 'misplaced' their pre-game breakfast on game day - they all ended up at Jack-in-the-box.  True story.  Okay, the rivalry still exists.

 Lastly, I pulled the ticket stub out of my wallet several hours after the game and happened to glance at it.  Although the ticket was printed last summer some time, there in full color was a photo of last year's bonfire in full blaze, an eerie reminder of the sad events of the week. God bless.

 
Extra Points

[ Last week when we wished wonderful things to our recent birthday celebrants, we were remiss to forget Coach Tommy “Deano” Shifflet.  The upside for Tommy is he gets sole billing this time. Great big LBFBHHQ wishes to you! 

[ Carrollton finally has a Texas State football champion!  No, we are not speaking of Miss Kimba’s alma mater Newman Smith High School.  (Digression follows:  Perennial underachievers (not unlike my alma mater Cranford High School), NSHS did get off to a wonderful start this season (something like 6-2).  However, the bliss was short-lived as school administrators forgot to file address change info on one of the Smith players (he had transferred from somewhere in Arkansas) and ended up forfeiting their early season wins.)  We are instead speaking about Carrollton American Heritage Academy, 28-24 victors over Bryan Allen Academy in the Class 2A championship on Saturday.  Admittedly, I never heard of the place until I read about it in the paper, and it doesn’t compare to James' alma mater Lewisville’s record, but it’s a start.

[ Don’t cha just hate it when you make the “right” pick and don’t get the win?  Example last week.  “I took Baltimore +7 and all I got was this lousy tie.” 

[ Don’t forget about the Eco-challenge!  If you don’t know what I mean, look for it on the discovery channel or www.discovery.com.

 This is Ralph, go!

z A new Thanksgiving Day trend may be upon us. Two people picked Thursday's games, but not all the rest, accepting the home team defaults for them instead. And in doing so, went 0-2 on Thursday while the Homers went 1-1, thus adding insult to injury in a season-long home team swoon.

z If you call yourself a football fan, you'll find a way to catch this year's Army - Navy Game on Saturday. A College Football classic rivalry with no equal. I make a point to watch it every year and I am never disappointed. Doesn't matter how good or bad each team is in any given year, in this match-up, the underdog is the favorite.
  Take a look at 1992's game. Navy led 24-3 in the 3rd qtr. No matter. Army came back, and down by 2 with :20 left, brought in the kicker to try a 44 yard FG. Patmon Malcom's longest in his life was 45 yards. The kick was up, and good! Army celebrates. But hold on! Flag down. Delay of game. Navy celebrates. He must try it again, this time from 49 yards out. He made that one too. Army celebrates again, and wins 25-24. Classic. How classic? It is being shown on ESPN Classic right now as I write this.